w_scan2(1)

📦 version 1.0.17, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

✨ w_scan2(1) — a universal ATSC and DVB blind scanner 💅✨

okay so bestie, you've opened w_scan2(1) and honestly? this one is a whole mood. it's the universal ATSC and DVB blind scanner, and it's lowkey iconic. let's get into it 💖

🎀 NAME 🎀

w_scan2 — a universal ATSC and DVB blind scanner. no cap.

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

w_scan2 -fa -c <COUNTRY_ID> [ options ]
w_scan2 -fc -c <COUNTRY_ID> [ options ]
w_scan2 -ft -c <COUNTRY_ID> [ options ]
w_scan2 -fs -s <SATELLITE_ID> [ options ]

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

w_scan2 scans for DVB-C, DVB-S/S2, DVB-T/T2, ISDB-T and ATSC channels. yes, it really said "all the channels" and meant it 💅

any other program accessing the DVB hardware — like, for example, VDR — has to be closed in order to avoid conflicts while running w_scan2. so close it, periodt. no sharing the hardware, bestie 🫶

w_scan2 provides the channels in different output formats (Default: VDR channels.conf). for other output formats, see OPTIONS.

💅 OPTIONS 💅

the following options are available. yes, all of them. we're doing this. ✨

  • -f TYPE — frontend type: "a" = ATSC, "c" = DVB-C, "s" = DVB-S/S2, "t" = DVB-T, DVB-T2 and ISDB-T [default], "t1" = only DVB-T, "t2" = only DVB-T2. depending on TYPE, either of the arguments -s or -c is mandatory.
  • -c COUNTRY_ID — mandatory argument for ATSC scans, cable scans and terrestrial scans, see option -f. specifies the country where you try to scan for channels as an uppercase two letter identifier, e.g. DE = Germany, US = United States, FR = France. use -c? for a list of all known identifiers.
  • -s SATELLITE_ID — mandatory argument for satellite scans, see option -f. specifies the satellite you wish to scan as an uppercase identifier, e.g. S19E2 = 19.2° east, S13E0 = 13.0° east, S0W8 = 0.8° west. use -s? for a list of all known identifiers.
  • -A N — specify ATSC scan type: 1 = terrestrial [default], 2 = cable, 3 = both, cable and terrestrial.
  • -o N — VDR channels.conf format: 2 = VDR-2.0 [default], 21 = VDR-2.1.
  • -X — generate zap/czap/xine output instead of VDR channels.conf.
  • -x — generate initial tuning data output for (dvb-)scan instead of VDR channels.conf.
  • -5 — generate initial tuning data output for dvbv5-scan instead of VDR channels.conf.
  • -L — generate VLC xspf playlist (experimental).
  • -M — mplayer output instead of vdr channels.conf.
  • -G — generate output for Gstreamer dvbsrc plugin.
  • -h — show help.
  • -H — show expert help.

👑 EXPERT OPTIONS 👑

this is where the main character energy really kicks in 🔥

  • -C CHARSET — specifies the output charset, i.e. "UTF-8", "ISO-8859-15". use iconv --list to see the full list of charsets.
  • -I FILE — import dvbscan initial_tuning_data.
  • -v — verbose (repeat for more).
  • -q — quiet (repeat for less).
  • -R N — Radio channels: 0 = don't search radio channels, 1 = search radio channels [default].
  • -T N — TV channels: 0 = don't search TV channels, 1 = search TV channels [default].
  • -O N — Other services: 0 = don't search other services [default], 1 = search other services.
  • -E N — Conditional access / encrypted channels: 0 = only Free TV channels, 1 = include encrypted channels [default].
  • -d — Delete duplicate transponders. with this option, only the first transponder copy is kept, regardless of the signal strength, so if you are in an area with the same transponders being broadcast from different sources, this will prevent you from searching for services in all of them. it's giving "pick one and commit" 💀
  • -a N — use device /dev/dvb/adapterN/ [default: auto detect] (also allowed: -a /dev/dvb/adapterN/frontendM). NOTE: this option is deprecated and should be usually omitted.
  • -F — Long filter timeout for reading data from hardware.
  • -t N — Tuning timeout, increasing may help if device tunes slowly or has bad reception. 1 = fastest [default], 2 = medium, 3 = slowest.
  • -i N — spectral inversion setting for cable TV: 0 = off, 1 = on, 2 = auto [default].
  • -Q — DVB-C modulation [default: choosen by country]. NOTE: for experienced users only! 0 = QAM64, 1 = QAM256, 2 = QAM128.
  • -S RATE — set DVB-C symbol rate, see table: [default: choosen by country]. NOTE: for experienced users only!!
    • 0 = 6.9000 MSymbol/s
    • 1 = 6.8750 MSymbol/s
    • 2 = 6.9565 MSymbol/s
    • 3 = 6.9560 MSymbol/s
    • 4 = 6.9520 MSymbol/s
    • 5 = 6.9500 MSymbol/s
    • 6 = 6.7900 MSymbol/s
    • 7 = 6.8110 MSymbol/s
    • 8 = 6.2500 MSymbol/s
    • 9 = 6.1110 MSymbol/s
    • 10 = 6.0860 MSymbol/s
    • 11 = 5.9000 MSymbol/s
    • 12 = 5.4830 MSymbol/s
    • 13 = 5.2170 MSymbol/s
    • 14 = 5.1560 MSymbol/s
    • 15 = 5.0000 MSymbol/s
    • 16 = 4.0000 MSymbol/s
    • 17 = 3.4500 MSymbol/s
  • -e — extended DVB-C scan flags. NOTE: for experienced users only! any combination of these flags: 1 = use extended symbolrate list, 2 = extended QAM scan.
  • -l TYPE — choose LNB type by name (DVB-S/S2 only) [default: UNIVERSAL], -l? for list of known LNBs.
  • -D Nc — use DiSEqC committed switch position N (N = 0 .. 3).
  • -D Nu — use DiSEqC uncommitted switch position N (N = 0 .. 15).
  • -p <file> — use DiSEqC rotor Position file.
  • -r N — use Rotor position N (N = 1 .. 255).
  • -P — ATSC scan: do not use ATSC PSIP tables for scan (PAT and PMT only).

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

scan satellite 19.2° east:

w_scan2 -fs -s S19E2

scan cable (DVB), Germany:

w_scan2 -fc -c DE

scan aerial (DVB), France:

w_scan2 -ft -c FR

scan cable (ATSC), United States:

w_scan2 -fa -A2 -c US

scan aerial (ATSC), United States:

w_scan2 -fa -A1 -c US

use output format zap/czap/xine:

w_scan2 [ OTHER OPTIONS ] -X

use output format dvbscan/scan/scan-s2 initial tuning data:

w_scan2 [ OTHER OPTIONS ] -x

NOTE: w_scan2 also performs full scans, so there is generally no need for this. it's giving "extra credit, but not required" ✨

🧚 REPORTING BUGS 🧚

see README file from source code package. if something is cursed, that's the place to look 👀

💜 AUTHOR 💜

Written by W.Koehler.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU General Public License, Version 2 any later version published by the Free Software Foundation.

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

vdr(1) — go say hi 👋

okay that's the whole page, bestie 💖 — this gorgeous little manual is w_scan2(1), dated 28 February 2021. mwah 💋

📦 where this page comes from